Wheel.



F. A. ELLIS, JII.

WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 28, I9I3.

MI. 5391 77., Patemed May III, 1916.

sara@ naar canientA WHEEL.

nissart.

Application filed ctober 28, 1913.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, FREDERICK yARTHUR ELLIS, Jr., a subject of the King of Great ication.

l spokes.

This invention relates to improvements in i the manufacture of wheels of the kind in which the spokes are first placed more or less Aloosely in position and areafterward forced radially outward by means of a bush or sleeve inserted into the hub and brought to bear against the inner ends of the spokes. Various devices Aof a more or less complicated character have been proposed for effecting this radial locking of the spokes in position, and the 'object of the present invention is to provide for the construction of a wheel of this kind in a simpler, less expensive, and more practicable manner than heretofore. Wheels of all kinds may be constructed according to my invention, and may be used for various industrial purposes, as for example, road wheels for vehicles, pulleys for driving machinery, drums for line shafting, and the like.

'According to my present invention I take a cylinder of steel or other suitable material of any convenient section, which will be hereinafter referred to as the hollow boss, and in this hollow boss I provide any suitable number of radial holes of any shape adapted to receive and correspond with the number and shape of spokes to be employed. The rim, which may be constructed in any known manner, is provided on its internal circumference with projections, studs, indentations, or the like formed out of the mate- .rial of the rim itself to receive the several The spokes are preferably made from suitable lengths cut from drawn steel tube, for example, but they may be of other suitable materiahas for example of wood. These lengths of tube, which may be of oval or other section, are then prepared at the one end by suitable press or swaging tools, to fit more or less closely the Aholes in the hollow boss, and at the other end the studs or the like on the interior of the rim. These several parts are then assembled together, bcing placed in a suitable jig, with the inner ends of the spokes projecting through the hollow boss to a limited extent, and by forcing a bush or sleeve by any convenient Specificationfof Letters Patent.

Patented May Mi, i916.

serial No. 797,713. A

means into the interior 0f the said hollow boss the several spokes are pressed radially outward toward and against the rim, whereby the whole is securely and rigidly held together.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l shows an elevation partly in section of a road wheel constructed in'accordance with my present invention; Fig. 2 a section on line X-Xof Fig. l; Fig. 3 a detail of the end of a spoke; and Figs. 4, 5 and 6 detail views of spoke-tiglitening devices.

Similar letters of reference relate to like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

a; is the rim of the wheel which may be of any desired section and construction; Z

are the spokes which are shown in Figs. l4

and Qas plain llengths of metal tube'of elliptical section, but may be shaped, as shown for example, in Fig. 3; c is the hollow boss, and d the central sleeve or bush, which may be provided with any suitable ball or other bearings as may be desired, and in the case of a driving pulley for machinery may be provided with'a keyway or the like for securing the same to the shaft.

The rim a is provided with projections upon its internal circumference to receive,

ythe outerends of the spokes b. These projections are formed by puncturing or pressing the said rim and swaging out the metal as shown at f in Figs. 1 and 2. The inner ends of the spokes b are rst placed in the holes of the hollow boss c, the rim a is then placed in position and the outer ends of the spokes b are placed over the projections f, and the central sleeve or bush ci is forced into the hole in the hollow boss c thereby securing each spoke Z) in position by bearing upon their inner ends. The spokes b when thus pressed into positionl may be then welded by what is known as the autogenous process, or ire connected by any other suitable means both to therim a, to the projections f thereon, and also to the hollow boss, thereby rigidly fixing the several parts together, the sleeve or bush being secured in place longitudinally by any convenient means, as for example by means of the screw-nut g, or otherwise.

When using lengths of drawn steel tube as before described for the spokes, it isV sometimes desirable to lill in the end or ends with a metallic core which may be secured therein in any convenient manner.

In order to enable pressure to be appliedv the said sleeve or bush d is insertedvin thel to theinner ends of the'spokes b, the outer i hollow boss c.v Or the sleeve or bush i may be provided 'with lain longitudinal grooves kx (Figs. 5 and 6 terminating in segmen-v 1 tal, A. 'eircumferential or annular inclined vgrooves z'..corresponding to the-number of spokes b employed, pressure being applied u n In the case of u'slng w1re spokes as commonly employed 1n motorcar wheel con-v to all the spokes b simultaneously on the said sleeve or bush d beingpartially rotated..

'By dividing. the rim into two or more parts, a very portable wheel may be constructed as hereinbefore describedl structiominstead of`putting the spokes in name to this specification inthe A Witnesses:

compression as hereinbeforel described thev i vmust be put 1n tension, and this maybe e fected by providing on theinner ends ofthe spokes,v heads of suitable shape which takev into grooves provided in the sleeve or bush, situated longitudinally or segmentally andannularl thereof as hereinbefore described' but modlfied so asto effect thedrawin-g inward of they spokes instead of the pressingv outward thereof.

lClaim:' i

Ina wheel, in combination, a hub, hollow spokes projecting fromthe hub, and a rim having hollow .projections-fitting into the outer endsofv the respective spokes, the said projections being open at both ends.

' In testimony whereof I havel signed my presence of two subscribingwitnessesl 4 FREDERIGKARTHUR ELLIS, JNR.

ALBERT EDWARD LAWLEY, ERNEST. PARKER. "v 

